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leftovers

I will come clean. There is little that drives me to distraction more than a fridge full of little pots and ramekins with a little mouthful of leftover this and a little mouthful of leftover that. If there is that little leftover EAT IT. On the other hand something that drives me completely over the edge is waste of good food.

Last night we had roast chicken, it was not very large and there was not a lot left over. But by the time I had tarted it up there was enough chicken and spinach curry for at least five. More if you had added rice.

Strip the chicken of every little bit of meat, turn the bird over, there is plenty of meat to be pulled on the back. Keep all the skin, the bones and the parson’s nose (unless you have to give that bit to the dog), we will come to that later (the meat not the dog!)

Fry a finely chopped onion, a good wodge of peeled ginger and a couple of garlic cloves. Do this on a lowish heat, you want to soften them not turn them into crispy bites.

Next assess your spice cupboard. I added, turmeric, ground cumin, dried chillies, cardamom seed, whole coriander and mustard seed. I went slightly heavy on the cardamom and chilli because I love the way they complement each other, but chuck in what you like. I also squeezed in a lime I found lurking at the back of the fridge, looking rather naked as I had used the peel in a cheesecake last week.

Stir over a mediumish (I am a very precise cook) heat until the kitchen smells divine.

Chuck in the chicken (is that a dance?). I also added some manky looking button mushrooms chopped in half and new potatoes chopped small. Add a tin of tomatoes and enough water to cover the lot.

Simmer until the potatoes are cooked and the liquid reduced to the kind of level you like. Add copious quantities of spinach. Wait until the spinach is wilted and serve with a big dollop of yoghurt